


Coin Operated

by WhoKilledBambi



Category: Ghostbusters (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Light-Hearted
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-18
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-09 11:50:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7800739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoKilledBambi/pseuds/WhoKilledBambi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dr. Erin Gilbert is a professor with a strange habit of doing laundry on Saturday nights instead of going out with her friends. It's the perfect chore that gives her a little alone time to catch up on her reading. She's been doing it for years, and for the first time ever, she runs into someone else who's a fan of doing late night laundry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Laundry Day

 

It’s a week before fall classes start that Abby mentions it.

“The Dean approved my research proposal!” she announces, smiling broadly as they make their way to the recently renovated physics department staff lounge. 

“Oh my god! That’s amazing!” Erin replies, enthusiastic for her friend. She quickly pulls her friend into a tight hug, before opening the door to the staff lounge.

“What’s amazing?” a voice asks from across the lounge, where at one table, Patty is sitting, magazine in one hand and can of coke in the other. Patty glances up, to see her two friends, both grinning madly.

“Abby got approved!” Erin declares.

“That’s awesome, baby!” Patty replies, “I’m proud of you.” 

Patty tosses her magazine aside, her present company much more interesting than the article about New York’s best hot dog stands. 

“You better be,” Abby answers with a laugh, “otherwise we would have kicked you out of our lounge.”

“It’s not my fault the history staff lounge sucks,” Patty shrugs. “Plus you guys have free coke and air conditioning. Seriously, it’s unfair.”

“I’m so pumped,” Abby says, awe in her voice, she punches the air joyfully. “This means I get to hire a grad student and everything.”

“Do you know who you’re gonna get?”

“Not sure yet,” Abby answers. “I need an mech. Eng. student, so maybe I’ll ask one of the profs in that department.”

“You should ask Dr. Gorin,” Patty suggests. “She’s a little wild and weird, but she knows the good ones.”

“Do you seriously know everyone here?” Erin asks Patty, eyebrow raised in amusement as Patty shrugs and smirks back.

Erin and Abby had met Patty two years back, at a faculty Christmas party, and the three had hit it off right away, joking about Kevin, the clueless yet handsome secretary that worked for the dean and spiking the faculty punch as if the party wasn’t already open bar.

“I’ll make sure to ask her,” Abby answers with a nod.

And it’s not even a week later that Abby joyfully tells them she found the best possible student for the job.

 

…

 

It’s three weeks into the semester and Erin is already behind on her laundry. She’s behind on marking the assignments for her third year physics class, and she hasn’t even planned her lab on for Thursday and she knows eventually she’ll have to write up a midterm and a research fund proposal, but at the moment, with her dirty laundry piling up in her hamper in the corner of her apartment, she knows this will have to be a priority.

“It’s Saturday night, Erin!” Abby scolds over the phone. “You should really be hanging out with me and Patty.”

“I’ve been putting it off forever,” Erin replies, “plus you forced me to go out yesterday. We went to that terrible gastropub.”

“You’re right,” Abby mutters, “you know, you’re life would be a heck of a ton easier if you lived somewhere that had en suite laundry. You wouldn’t be stuck going to the campus laundromat at one in the morning.”

“It’s almost habit at this point, honestly,” Erin replies. She had, over the years of never ending deadlines and assignments, whether as an undergrad, grad student and even as a professor, gotten used to a strange schedule of work and sleep.

“Well, if you’re done early, come by,” Abby insists, and with a cheery goodbye, she hangs up.

The closer she gets to the on campus laundry coin-op laundry, the emptier the campus gets. She knows most of the students are either out at the pubs near the school, in their dorms or in one of the libraries, working way too late and way too hard. It’s going to be midterm season soon, after all. 

The laundromat itself is located in the basement of one of the campus buildings, small windows allowing light from the outside to illuminate the inside of the usually quiet room. Erin’s only ever been to the laundry room at night, but she assumes not much daylight must reach the pale grey walls of the empty room. And though it may be creepy at night, she’s never seen anyone in the room either. 

With a swipe of her staff card, the door opens and she lets herself in, dragging her laundry bag in behind her. There’s a clatter here or there, and she makes her way to her favourite machine, filling it up quickly and placing her quarters in the coin deposit. It’s only after the clang of the machine started pitifully that a voice startles her out of her train of thought.

“Come here often?”

Erin quickly turns around, hand on her chest in fear.

“Shit,” the curse comes out in a whisper, “you startled me!”

And there, sprawled out across two dryers in what has to be the coziest temporary laundry room nest is a blonde girl, book in hand, hair a wild mess on top of her head, and in what appears to be a jumper with a vest on top. It’s a strange fashion choice, but the girl across the room seems to pull it off with comfortable confidence.

“Holtzmann,” the girl greets, jumping down from her spot on the dryers, and offers a gloved hand to Erin, who awkwardly shakes it, “but you can call my Holtz.”

“I’m Erin,” she replies, smiling back at the girl, “Doctor Erin Gilbert, but uh, you can just call me Erin.”

“Roger that, Doctor Erin,” Holtzmann replies, giving her a two finger salute before jumping back onto her dryers and resuming her position, eyes on Erin instead of the book she had been reading before Erin had entered the room.

Erin herself had brought some assignments to mark, but the girl in front of her was more interesting and seemed like a mystery that needed to be solved, and Erin hated when equations were left unfinished and unsolved.

“What are you reading?” Erin asks, trying to eye the book from her spot, leaning casually against one of the dryers across from Holtzmann.

“Physics Of The Impossible,” Holtzmann answers, offering the book to Erin to glance at. “It seemed interesting enough, and I’d love to give anything he talks about in there a try.”

The mention of physics perks Erin’s interest and she fingers through the book, laughing at a few of the more ridiculous propositions. 

“The author’s a physicist,” Holtzmann mentions, as Erin skims through one of the sections.

“Yeah?” Erin asks, looking back to Holtzmann and passing the book back to her, “maybe I’ll try reading some of his stuff.”

“Some of his publications are a little heavy,” Holtzmann admits, scratching her head a bit, she shrugs. “But you look like you’ve got a good head on your shoulders, so I’m sure you’ll handle it fine.”

“Really?” Erin asks, looking down at her rather simple button down shirt. Even though she didn’t think she’d see anyone tonight she had tried not to dress too nerdy, but maybe this other girl had picked it up.

“You’re a prof here, right? Something in science right?” Holtzmann asks, eyes scanning Erin as if the evidence would be there on her body. “Physics right?”

“How’d you know?” 

“Mmm, girl, I can tell,” Holtzmann replies with a wink, “plus your smile was wild when I first mentioned physics.”

“Oh…” Erin mutters, “I just really like physics.”

“That’s cool,” Holtzmann replies, “I’m an eng grad. Physics is pretty cool, I just like mine more applied, if you know what I mean.”

Erin stutters out meaningless gibberish before making eye contact with the confident blonde, who just smirks wider at Erin’s reaction.

“So what do you normally do while waiting for laundry?” Holtzmann asks, “Unless you’re one of those fools that leaves their laundry in the machine, trusting 20-somethings not to steal or mess with their stuff.”

“Sounds like you’re speaking from experience,” Erin replies.

“I’ve seen some pretty wild shit in my days,” Holtzmann confesses, and the look in her eyes tells Erin that Holtzmann has probably been the cause of some of this ‘wild shit’ so to say.

“I’ve got some assignments to mark,” Erin says with a sigh. “Being a teacher is like being a student, except instead of having a professor breathing down your neck, you have 40 odd students doing it.”

“That’s why you stick to being a grad student,” Holtzmann advises. “Come on-” she says, sitting up and tapping the machine next to her, “-we can be responsible together. I’ve got some designs to look at.”

And though Erin is reluctant at first, she sits next to Holtzmann pulling out her work assignments as Holtzmann sets up a playlist for them. Despite the strange music choices, it ends up being rather productive and fun, Holtzmann taking breaks to dance or make jokes and when both Erin and Holtzmann’s clothing are both finally clean and folded, Erin is sad to see her Saturday chore done and complete.

Holtzmann walks her to her car, claiming it to be on the way to her dorm and waves her a rather enthusiastic goodbye for 3am and Erin hopes that she’ll see the girl again sometime.

 

…

 

Erin honestly doesn’t expect to see the strange blonde again, but once more, she’s sitting there, on top of the dryers, this time fiddling with a small metal chain puzzle.

“So you do come here often,” she remarks, but it goes ignored by Erin, who pulls her laundry bag behind her and throws her stuff into her favored machine.

“Do you live here?” Erin asks, turning around once the machine has started rattling away. “I never used to see anyone here.”

“Cramping your style?” the blonde asks, a confident smile on her face as she solves her puzzle and places it beside her, her attention shifting to Erin completely.

“No, it’s just kind of weird,” Erin admits, “I started doing my laundry after midnight in grad school, and I’ve never seen any other students or profs do it.”

“It’s a great time to do it,” Holtzmann says, “I like the university best when it’s almost abandoned. It feels kind of creepy and haunted.”

“Ha, yeah,” Erin agrees, and she moves to the machines across from Holtzmann, jumping up to sit on the one facing her, “when I started this my friend was convinced I’d get killed or possessed by late night university ghosts.”

“Wouldn’t be surprised, most universities are probably haunted,” Holtzmann points out, “there’s this urban myth that if a student dies during a final, everyone else gets a passing grade.”

“That can’t be real,” Erin remarks, but Holtzmann’s trademark grin stays in place as she offers a shrug back.

“Would you kill someone to pass a class?” Holtzmann asks, and Erin gapes at the girl.

“What?! No, never,” Erin replies, slightly shocked.

“Nah, you don’t seem the type,” Holtzmann agrees, “you seem like the work hard type, not the hardly working type.”

“Uh… thanks, I guess,” Erin answers.

“It’s a compliment, trust me,” Holtzmann adds. “You up for a game? Add some hardly working into the mix?”

“I have a proposal to work on,” Erin answers, waving her notebook as proof of her excuse.

“This game involves physics,” Holtzmann retorts, smirking.

“What is it?” Erin asks, and instead of answering, Holtzmann pulls out two large nerf guns, her smile growing as confusion appears on Erin’s face. “No. Definitely not. Those have nothing to do with physics.”

“I disagree,” Holtzmann replies, “it’ll be fun. Empty laundry room. It’s not like we’ll get in trouble. And you can work on your stuff tomorrow.”

“I don’t think so,” Erin answers.

“I’ll let you pick which gun,” Holtzmann offers, and Erin seems to contemplate it carefully, looking at the two proffered guns.

“I’ll take the green one.”

 

...

 

The anticipation for 1am is almost killing her. After checking her watch every minute for the past hour, Erin decides to just leave early. It’s a little better than compulsively checking her wrist, and the blonde’s been there before her the past two laundry Saturdays, so Erin wouldn’t be if Holtzmann was already there.

It’s in opening the door that Erin realizes the room is empty. After years of adjusting to the completely quiet and deserted laundromat, it’s weird and uncomfortable being there alone. A quick glance to her watch confirms her guess, she’s a good ten minutes early.

With another glance to the door, Erin shrugs, and tugs her bag of laundry behind her, throwing things into the machine she always uses. A few more pointless checks of her watch make her feel anxious and worried that Holtzmann won’t show, and when another few minutes pass Erin starts seriously contemplating the idea that her tired mind had simply invented the other late night laundry doer as some sort of coping mechanism for her loneliness. But before she can get too into that theory, the door clicks and opens and Holtzmann walks in grinning widely.

“You beat me here,” she says in form of a greeting.

“I wanted first choice of the machines,” Erin laughs.

“And yet you still pick the same one as always,” Holtzmann retorts.

“She’s a good one,” Erin replies, giving the old washing machine a tap.

“Is she?” Holtzmann asks, eying the machine, before pulling two half full pillowcases in behind her and picking a machine across from Erin, “maybe I should make it here earlier and try her out then.”

The smile Holtzmann is giving her is infectious and somewhat flirtatious and Erin’s eyes quickly move from the smile to the machine that Holtzmann has chosen. And Erin sits up onto the machine beside hers, watching as Holtzmann lazily dumps one pillowcase and then the other into the machine, slamming the machine’s door shut.

“I brought my notebook,” Holtzmann says, “if you don’t have any professorly duties, I was thinking we could maybe watch some netflix together? Have you seen Stranger Things? It’s pretty good. Very X Files.”

“Don’t you ever have homework? Or whatever engineering grad students do?” Erin asks.

“Yeah, but I don’t sleep, so I get it done,” Holtzmann replies with a smile, and pulls out a small laptop that’s covered in colourful stickers.

“Alright, I’ll give your show a try,” Erin says, and happy to see Erin agreeing, Holtzmann jumps up onto the machine beside her, sitting a little too close and opening up the laptop, passing it to Erin.

“Hold this, would you?” she asks, without waiting for confirmation, and she leans over, pulling out some snacks from her bag.

“You came prepared,” Erin says, eying Holtzmann as she pulls out pringles and two cans of coke. Her shirt, though tucked carefully into her stained overalls, is slowly riding up per item she pulls from her bag.

“Do you ever clean those overalls?” Erin asks, eying the clothing instead of the skin that’s showing.

“These badboys?” Holtzmann asks motioning to the overalls. “These are my work clothes. They’re perpetually stained. Clean, but stained for life.”

Erin nods and Holtzmann grabs the laptop, exchanging it for a can of coke. The girl logs into her computer quickly, opening up a tab for netflix and settling in.

“I can’t wait to watch this,” Holtzmann confesses as she fullscreens the video, “I’ve heard so many good things about it.”

Holtzmann leans back a bit, and shuffles inches close to Erin so she can share the screen, and though the close presence is a little much, Erin adjust quickly, getting comfortable pressed closely to her.

 

…

 

Holtzmann almost runs into Abby on her way out of the gastropub. She’s got two beers in her hands, and lifts them up a bit to steady them.

“I’m so sorry,” Abby says loudly over the music and the noise of the crowd around them.

“My fault,” Holtzmann corrects, and only then realizes that it’s Abby in front of her. 

“Holtz!” Abby greets properly, also having just realized. “What are you doing here? Oh, it doesn’t matter, you should come join us.”

“I was actually just on my way out,” Holtzmann replies, gesturing with two fingers to the door across the lounge.

“Just one drink? You can meet my friend Patty,” Abby insists. “She’s pretty cool, I mean, for a historian.”

“Not hanging out with the other physicists?” Holtzmann grins, following Abby to her table.

“I would, if my friend wouldn’t keep cancelling on our Saturday nights to do laundry like an old lady,” Abby replies.

Holtzmann nods and laughs.

“It’s a solid time to do it,” Holtzmann agrees, “no competition for the washers or the dryers.”

“Oh god, not you too,” Abby says, mock despair in her eyes. Before Holtzmann can offer a rebuttal, Abby shouts to the girl sitting alone at a table. “Hey, Patty, this is Holtz. Holtz, Patty.”

With introductions done, Abby lightly pushes Holtz forward, and sits down at the booth beside her and across from Patty.

“How about a drinking game?” Holtzmann asks, “those are great ice breakers.”

The night goes smoothly, and Holtzmann and Patty get along great, forcing Abby to dance with them as the night goes on and as the alcohol becomes stronger.

…

 

“You know, if you didn’t have such a weird laundry schedule, maybe you’d get to meet Abby’s grad student. She’s wild,” Patty’s telling her. It’s Friday night, and they’re hanging out at Abby’s, who’s gone to get drinks for the three.

“Hey, I have my wild times doing laundry,” Erin insists, and Patty scoffs.

“It must be so wild,” Abby shouts from her kitchen, “all alone Saturday night in a creepy empty basement.”

“It hasn’t been that lonely as of late,” Erin retorts.

“Oh,” Patty smirks, “is the campus laundromat  _ the _ place to meet cute guys now?”

“What’s this about cute laundry boys?” Abby asks, passing the drinks to her friends. “This isn’t another Kevin thing, is it?”

“Oh god, no,” Erin mutters, “it’s just this girl, we share laundry days apparently. She’s pretty cool.”

“Another weirdo that schedules their laundry at ridiculous in the morning?” Abby laughs. “That’s hard to believe, but then again, universities are always filled with weirdos.”

“Can we stop making fun of my habits and just watch some Netflix?”

“Sure, whatever you say, Erin,” Patty laughs, snatching the remote out of Abby’s hands to flicks through the movie options. “It’s my choice right?”

“Always is,” Abby says with a grin, grabbing the popcorn and Erin laughs, scooting closer to her best friend to get comfortable and close enough to steal some snacks.

Patty scrolls through the options stopping at Stranger Things.

“How about this? I’ve heard it’s pretty dope,” she asks.

“I’ve seen the first few episodes,” Erin says, “it’s pretty good.”

“Seriously? Who you watch it with?” Patty asks. “You don’t have netflix.”

“Oh, uh, just a friend,” Erin adds, “laundry girl.”

“She got you to watch a tv series? It took me months before you’d even look at anything I recommended.”

“It’s nothing,” Erin says, “we were just bored together waiting for our laundry.”

“Whatever, we’re watching this, so you better not get bored rewatching,” Patty decides, clicking play.

 

…

 

“He’s perfect for you, Erin,” Patty insists, leaning over the table to grab the small jam jar. They’re having Sunday brunch at Abby’s, and apparently the topic of conversation has turned to Erin’s sad love life.

“You should at least give him a chance,” Abby adds, “according to Patty, he’s smart and handsome. It’s been awhile since you dated someone that was both of those.”

“I’m really not interested,” Erin replies, shaking her head and stuffing a piece of croissant in her mouth.

“What? Why?” Abby asks.

“I spent all week talking to him about you,” Patty says at the same time.

“You’re usually always ready for us to set you up,” Abby remarks, observing her friend closely who refuses to make eye contact, instead concentrating on her plate of fruit.

“What’s up, Erin?” Patty pushes.

“You can tell us,” Abby adds.

“I might kind of maybe have a sort of crush on someone,” Erin mentions quietly.

“What? Who?” Abby asks, smiling and moving her chair closer to her friend.

“It’s no one, I swear,” Erin tries, “I’ll get over it.”

“Aw,” Patty says, placing a hand on Erin’s shoulder, “I wanna hear about this mystery guy.”

“Yeah, spill,” Abby adds.

“Well, ugh… she’s not actually a guy,” Erin confesses quietly into her drink.

“What?!” Patty exclaims.

“Boom! Bisexual Erin strikes again!” Abby shouts, clapping her friend on the back. 

“I didn’t know you were bisexual,” Patty says, “girl, you should have told me, I could have set you up with a bunch of different girls.”

“It’s fine,” Erin says. “Can we go back to talking about what we’re doing next weekend?”

“Nah, girl, I wanna hear more about this crush of yours,” Patty says and Abby nods quickly in agreement.

“It’s nothing really,” Erin lies, “she’s just really cool and fun. She’s smart too. An engineer.”

“Finally,” Abby sighs. “So where did you meet her?”

“The laundry room,” Erin confesses.

“No way? It’s the other weirdo that does laundry at butt fuck early in the morning?” Patty asks, surprised. 

“It’s a match made in heaven,” Abby comments.

“More like a match made in the creepy, empty, school laundromat,” Patty adds.

 

…

 

Bursting into Abby’s lab on a Friday morning seems like a good idea. She’s flustered, having spent an hour in her office trying to do work but thinking instead of Holtzmann and trying to convince herself to try to ask the other girl out. Or at least find out if Holtzmann is gay or even sort of interested in her. Her work had sat in front of her, ignored, and she had shut the door long ago so that she could have some privacy from her colleagues and students. But right now she needed the advice of her best friend. Tomorrow she would she Holtzmann again, another Saturday night doing laundry. It was now, while she had Abby’s comforting and wise presence.

“Abby!” she shouts, knocking on the door twice before pushing the familiar lab open. She hadn’t visited in a while, both girls preferring to meet up in the staff lounge or in one of their offices, but Erin knew that Abby would be hard at work. “Abby, are you in here?”

“Hey Erin, we’re back here,” Abby shouts, and Erin follows her voice along behind various machines and computers to a workbench where a familiar blonde is sitting, hard at work screwing something together. As soon as the blonde feels Erin’s eyes on her, her grin widens, and she looks up, wild smile and mischievous eyes twinkling at her.

“Come here often?” Holtzmann asks and Erin can’t believe it.

“Clearly she doesn’t,” Abby says, coming out from the back room, carrying a book with her, “otherwise you two would have met a while ago. And don’t bother trying to flirt with her, Holtz, she’s got some kind of crush on this girl she does laundry with.”

“Abby!” Erin scolds and she can feel her cheeks burning. A quick glance at Holtzmann confirms that there will be no lying out of this one. The engineer is smirking at her.

“You came here for advice right?” Abby asks, and Erin regrets having texted her to ask for it. “On how to ask out your mystery laundry girl?”

“You know what, it can wait, you’re busy with stuff,” Erin says motioning to the equipment laying on the desk in front of them.

“Is it because of Holtzmann here?” Abby asks, looking a little guilty for having so easily spread Erin’s crush to a stranger. “I promise she’s helpful. And Holtz is as gay as it gets, so she’ll know exactly what to do.”

The confirmation of Holtzmann’s sexuality is nice to hear, but Erin still can’t even look at the girl who now knows Erin’s secret.

“So what do you suggest, Holtz?” Abby says, not noticing the awkward tension between the two. Or rather, Holtzmann’s confident preening and Erin’s inability to look anywhere close to the blonde.

“You should just ask her to dance,” Holtzmann suggests, and when Erin chances a look at the engineer, the engineer confidently winks back at her. “Girls love dancing.”

“Sure, I’ll do that,” Erin says, nodding and looking back at Abby before bolting out of her seat. “I’ll see you later Abby.”

And before Abby can even stop her Erin is gone.

“She’s not normally so high strung,” Abby replies with a sigh. “I swear she’s actually really cool.”

“I believe you,” Holtzmann says, and Abby looks at her seriously, trying to gage how sincere she is. Abby smiles and playfully pushes Holtzmann lightly on the shoulder.

“This is why I like you, Holtz,” Abby says. “You’re too nice.”

 

…

 

She’s nervous to say the least. It’s Saturday and it’s laundry day, and she knows she has no choice, the laundry in her hamper growing; but she’s nervous as hell and she doesn’t want to face her crush. Certainly when her crush knows how she feels.

Unfortunately time seems to be speeding by, and it's with a nervous huff that she drives towards the university’s laundromat. She’s late by the time she reaches the door, and she can see Holtzmann’s figure through the small, frosted glass window in the door. Holtzmann appears to be fiddling with a small boombox and checking her watch repeatedly. With a deep breath, Erin opens the door, and Holtzmann smiles straight up at her.

“I was starting to think you wouldn’t come,” Holtzmann says loudly over the music that’s playing from the machine beside her. The small boombox that Holtzmann has is a little beat up, with some stickers and tape covering parts of it, and Erin wouldn’t be surprised if Holtzmann had found the thing in a dumpster somewhere and decided it would be worth the time to fix up and modify.

“Do you want to dance?” Holtzmann asks, looking slightly nervous, but doing a good job in pretending to be completely confident about the whole thing.

“Let me put my stuff in the machine,” Erin says. 

She’s honestly slightly confused. Holtzmann seemed to be acting completely normal, as though she hadn’t just found out a friend had a crush on her. Erin had no idea how to feel and it was hard to tell whether Holtzmann ignoring the confession was a good thing or a bad thing. So instead of worrying, Erin puts all her concentration on filling up the laundry machine. The minute the machine starts puttering away, Erin turns around and is completly surprised by Holtzmann’s proximity. Sometime during her extreme laundry concentration, the blonde had moved right behind her and now they were face to face.

“Dance?” Holtzmann asks again, offering her hand to Erin.

Erin grabs it lightly, watching as Holtzmann pulls her into an intricate and wild dance that only Holtzmann seems to know. The moves are almost impossible to follow, though Erin does try, but it ends up easier to make up her own moves. It’s when Holtzmann pulls her in and spins her that Erin thinks there’s maybe more to this dance than she realizes. And when Holtzmann dips her that Erin sees the smile on Holtzmann’s face.

“What are we doing?” Erin asks.

“Dancing,” Holtzmann replies. “Don’t you remember what I said yesterday?”

“What?” Erin asks.

“If you like a girl you should just ask her to dance,” Holtzmann reminds her, “and this was me, asking you to dance.”

“Right,” Erin says, palms suddenly sweaty and her eyes glue themselves to the floor. “Girls love dancing.” The last comments she mutters to herself.

“So what do you say, Erin?” Holtzmann asks, and Erin’s eyes meet her’s again, “wanna get out of here?”

“What about our clothing?” Erin asks, gesturing to the running machines around them.

“I thought that through,” Holtzmann confesses, motioning to the set up behind them, where a picnic blanket is laying on the ground, with an assortment of snacks and a wine bottle.

“You came prepared,” Erin remarks, “you knew I’d say yes.”

“I had my suspicions,” Holtzmann says, “thanks, Abby. So, what do you say? Wanna go out with me?”

“I’d love to.”

 

…

 


	2. On Wheels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Abby and Patty are getting a little suspicious, after all, Erin's become a chipper, happy version of herself. It's all thanks to one weirdo. Featuring a very vintage gay date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote a second part. And there's a third part in the works as we speak. (it's currently a paragraph but w/e). Anyways follow me on tumblr [here](https://officialgaynasa.tumblr.com) if you like. Enjoy :D

The night air is crisp and cold, and Erin can see her breath as they walk towards her car. Their both lugging behind their bags of laundry; her’s neatly folded and packed, Holtzmann’s a messy kind of folded and a strange kind of organized that Erin assumes makes sense to the blonde and only the blonde.

“This is me,” Erin says, gesturing to the small red car parked on the side of the street. She double clicks the unlock button on her keys, opening the back door, and throwing her laundry bag onto one of the seats.

She closes the car door, turning to face Holtzmann and once again the girl is closer to her than anticipated.

“You’re a good dancer,” Holtzmann says, smirking. “I never knew doing laundry could be so fun.”

“Thanks,” Erin replies, blushing slightly but keeping eye contact with Holtzmann. “You make it a lot more fun.”

“You don’t meet all your crushes at laundromats?” Holtzmann jokes, tongue peeking out.

“No, not at all.”

“I’m flattered then,” Holtzmann says, “if you want to do it again sometime, you should call me. Otherwise, I’ll see you again when those clothes get dirty.”

The last comment is finished off with a quick wink as a small piece of paper is pushed into her hands. With a parting smirk, Holtzmann is off, continuing down the sidewalk with an almost confident skip in her step. 

Erin gets into her car, watching Holtzmann disappear between two campus buildings, and Erin tucks Holtzmann’s number into her breast pocket, starting her car, and driving off towards home.

…

 

_ I had a fun time yesterday.  _

 

Erin sends the message quickly before she can change her mind. It’s half past seven in the evening and Erin is tucked into a book and she had nervously been holding Holtzmann’s number in her hands, roughing up the paper with her nervous handling.

 

_ It’s Erin btw. _

 

She sends the second text quickly with worry and almost throws her phone across the room in worry. She attempts to read, to not watch her phone but the words on her page are blurry and uninteresting.

 

The minute her phone vibrates, Erin lunges for it, checking it quickly.

 

_ Nice to hear from you, prof gilbert _

 

Erin can practically imagine the smirk on Holtzmann’s face before the second text comes in.

 

_ Can’t wait to see you again. Preferably before your scheduled laundry day. _

 

…

 

Honestly, the moment she heard her phone vibrate during her lecture Monday morning her brain became unfocused with the need to check. And the minute she finally was able to, once all her third year physics students had filtered out of the classroom, her heart deflated to see that it wasn’t Holtzmann that had texted her but rather her nosy best friend.

 

_ How’d it go girl? _

 

With a sigh, Erin collects her books and places them in her bag, before grabbing her phone once more and texting a reply to Abby.

 

_ Well I think. We danced. _

 

She sends it before she can regret anything and makes her way towards her office. Her phone buzzes once more, and Erin doesn’t have the foolish hope to think it’s Holtzmann. She knows it’s Abby, vigilant and ever excited to get any news and gossip.

 

_ You have to tell me everything. Lunch? _

 

Erin sighs again. She could reshuffle her schedule to make time for Abby, but currently she just wants to keep the news to herself. She spent way too much time overanalyzing the whole situation on her own and she knows that if she tells Abby, the woman will force every small detail out of her. She just wants to keep it to herself to overanalyze in peace.

 

_ Tomorrow? I’ve got a lab to prep for. _

 

The reply she sends will at least give her the day to think over what she’ll say to Abby so that she can be prepared. 

 

_ Fine. But you’re not getting out of this Erin. I know where you live. _

 

The threat is real and present, and before Erin puts her phone away, she checks Holtzmann’s texts from yesterday with a small smile. Hopefully she’ll see the girl again quite soon.

 

...

 

“What are you up to, Holtz?” Abby asks, entering the lab and spotting Holtzmann, who’s sprawled out on a work bench, boots up comfortable on top off the pile of broken ESD meters that Abby had found her taking apart earlier.

Currently Holtzmann’s goggles are pushed up, pushing her bob of hair even further up as she looking towards the ceiling, a strange tube covering one eye as the other is tightly shut.

“It’s a kaleidoscope! I found it in the trash when I was looking for spare parts yesterday,” Holtzmann explains.

“Why were you in the trash again? I told you we have funding for whatever equipment you need,” Abby replies, sitting down across from Holtzmann and opening her notebook.

“It’s for my automated cat feeder,” Holtzmann explains, “I made it out of a raspberry pi and some spare parts that Dr. Gorin gave me. And some trash I found in a Whole Foods dumpster. But it keeps getting clogged up. It’s a menace.”

“You made an automated cat feeder?” Abby asks, eying the girl who's still looking up into the kaleidoscope.

“Yeah,” Holtzmann says. “Computers are better at remembering to feed cats than I’ll ever be. Wanna try this out?”

She sits up rather rapidly, almost knocking down a circuit board and a screwdriver, but they topple loudly and stay on the table, as Holtzmann passes the small pink tube to Abby.

“This was in a dumpster?” Abby asks, grabbing it between two fingers and looking uncertain.

“I cleaned it,” Holtzmann replies, and on seeing Abby’s hesitation, Holtzmann puts her hand up in an almost salute, “Promise. Boy Scout’s honour.”

Abby responds with a biting laugh, and puts the kaleidoscope to her eye instead.

“Oh wow, that is pretty cool,” Abby says, moving her head around to see how the differing light would affect the fractals displayed in the small tube.

“Can you believe someone would throw that out?” Holtzmann asks. 

“Not at all, Holtz,” Abby replies, looking towards Holtzmann but not seeing her due to the kaleidoscope blocking her vision.

“Hey, Abbs,” Holtzmann asks, “what’s Erin’s office number?”

“412. Why?” Abby answers, placing the toy down so that she can properly look at Holtzmann.

“She asked me to read over her research proposal,” Holtzmann replies. “I thought I’d visit her and see what’s up.”

“Oh, that. She’s been working on that proposal for way too long. She even had Patty read it over. Patty wasn’t impressed at all.”

Holtzmann barks out a laugh while imagining Abby’s friend reading over a long and boring physics proposal. Patty didn’t seem the type to enjoy that kind of reading at all.

“I’ll be back soon then,” Holtzmann says, jumping up from her stool. 

“Have fun, Holtzy,” Abby shouts back as the blonde disappears out of the lab.

 

…

 

“It’s weird seeing you outside of the laundromat,” Holtzmann greets, peeking her head into Erin’s office. 

Erin responds with a startled squeak and a hand to her chest.

“Holtz! You startled me!”

“I thought I’d come by,” Holtzmann says, “look at your proposal.”

“Oh right,” Erin says, there’s a slight disappointment on her face. “What’s your email? I’ll send it to you.”

“I was also hoping to ask you out, Erin.”

“Oh?! Really?”

“Preferably somewhere off campus. Away from laundry machines,” Holtzmann replies.

“I think I’d like that,” Erin answers, nodding quickly and smiling up at Holtzmann. 

“How’s Friday sound?” Holtzmann asks, flopping down lazily into the extra chair in Erin’s office and placing her boots onto Erin’s desk, smirking as she catches Erin frowning at the dirty boots on her clean and organized desk.

“Friday should work,” Erin agrees, moving her eyes from Holtzmann’s boots to her eyes instead. “How’d you know where my office was?”

“Abby told me,” Holtzmann says. “Her’s is down that way.” Holtzmann motions somewhere behind her, where Abby’s usually empty office is. Most students and other professors know to find Abby in her lab instead.

“Not that she’s ever actually in her office, though,” Erin remarks.

“No, but since I’m working for her….” Holtzmann shrugs, and Erin’s eyes go wide.

“That’s not going to be a problem is it? I mean… if we? You know? What we’re doing? Whatever that is? This?” Erin questions, motioning between herself and Holtzmann, who’s eyebrow quirks up and smile turns slightly upwards.

“Conflict of interest? Nah. I’m employed by a different prof, and a student in a different department. It’s nothing.”

“Oh, that’s good.”

“Don’t know what Abby will think of it though,” Holtzmann admits. “What if she thinks you’re taking advantage of poor, young, lil Holtzy?” Holtzmann dramatically places her hand on her forehead and leans back breathing out a long sigh, all facetious and over exaggerated. 

“Oh god, she’s gonna be so nosy. She hasn’t even asked me how Saturday went. Oh god.”

“So I’m guessing we should keep this on the D.L?”

“Unless you want her constantly asking questions, it’s best we wait it out a bit,” Erin advises. 

“Secretly dating? For the drama of it all?” Holtzmann asks, sitting back up. “I could be down for that. Some quick make out sessions when Abby’s not looking, going out with your friends and sneaking off to the bathroom for a quickie, doing the due when the-”

“Holtz!” Erin scolds. “I think we can start with our date Friday, right?”

“Fine,” Holtzmann replies, stretching out the word, “I guess that will do for now. I’ll make sure to text you before then too.”

With a parting wink, Holtzmann runs off and Erin sighs, thinking of Abby as she sends Holtzmann her proposal. It’s foolish for her to hope that her friend won’t ask how her crush is doing, but Erin knows better. At least, maybe she’ll wait a few days.

 

…

 

She’s nervous before even seeing Abby. She’s reorganized the lunch in front of her at least four times, moving her salad around a bit and moving her bottle of orange juice left and right before she finally hears Abby’s voice.

“Sorry I’m late, Erin,” Abby says quickly, sitting down beside her friend and pulling out her own lunch. “Holtz was wild today. I’ve never had to replace the fire extinguisher in my lab before. Wow!” She breathes out a quick laugh before eying Erin again, and as if suddenly remembering the gossip she’ll be privy to, she perks right up. 

“Enough about me though, how’s it going with laundry girl?”

“Oh… ugh, really good,” Erin mutters, already going off script of what she had mentally rehearsed.

“So, you asked her out then?” Abby pushes, smiling encouragingly at her friend.

“Oh not really. I mean sort of,” Erin answers.

“So she asked you out?”

“Yeah, actually. For Friday.” 

“That’s so exciting!” Abby exclaims, “tell me about her, then. I literally know nothing other than that you two romantically do laundry together in the least romantic room on campus.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Erin admits, shrugging.

“A name would be a good start,” Abby says. “Is she someone I know? Student? Prof? Department? Janitor? Does she work at one of the on campus cafes?”

“Oh, she’s an engineer,” Erin says. “A grad student.”

“Cougar,” Abby interrupts, smiling and elbowing her friend in jest. “Continue, please.”

“She’s really smart? And likes 80’s movies and music?”

“What’s her name?” Abby asks. Abby’s eyes are on Erin’s but she momentarily glances behind her and exclaims quickly: “Holtz!”

The surprise on Erin’s face is evident, and Erin is filled with worry and confusion as to how her friend had guessed, but a quick glance behind her confirms that Abby hadn’t guessed but rather had stated the arrival of the plucky, eclectic grad student.

“Hey, Abbs,” Holtzmann greets, “Erin.”

“What’s up?” Erin asks, weakly.

“Nothing much,” Holtzmann replies, “what were you two talking about? Seemed important.”

“Nothing,” Erin says.

“Erin was just telling me about how it’s going with her crush,” Abby replies at the same time, not afraid to share all of Erin’s confessions. “Apparently she’s got a date on Friday.”

“Oh really?” Holtzmann smirks, and Erin can’t believe that this is happening again.

“Yeah, she’s being really selfish with details though,” Abby continues. “What’s up with you Holtz?”

“Nothing much,” Holtzmann shrugs, “but Dr Gorin wanted to see you.”

“Oh, I almost forgot about that!” Abby exclaims. “Crap! Erin, we’re not done this convo. Holtz, I’ll see you later at the lab.”

And with that, Abby rushes off towards Dr Gorin’s lab, and Erin slowly looks to Holtzmann whose wearing the largest shit eating grin.

“So-”

“Don’t,” Erin says. 

“But you’re crush-”

“Nope,” Erin shakes her head. “Just sit and eat lunch with me and we’ll pretend this didn’t happen.”

“I think it’s cute,” Holtzmann says and Holtzmann doesn’t need to look at Erin to know the other girl is blushing bright and red.

 

…

 

“She hasn’t told me anything,” Abby admits. “Has she told you?”

Patty shakes her head in response, grabbing another slice of pizza that had been left in the lounge for any of the professors to help themselves to.

“Jack squat,” Patty says after her bite of hawaiian pizza. One pineapple piece almost falls, but Patty pushes it back up on top of the slice with her thumb.

“She’s been really happy lately though,” Abby says, “so I assume it went well right. Unless she cowered out and is pretending to be happy so that we don’t question her.”

“What do you suggest we do?”

“I have no idea,” Abby answers. 

“She even ditched us for lunch,” Patty remarks. “Think she’s with her crush doing lunch laundry or something?”

“Is that supposed to be an innuendo?” Abby asks, and Patty almost chokes on her pizza. “I’m sorry!” Abby responds quickly, patting her friend on the back.

“The mental image, Abbs,” Patty mutters, “no. I don’t need that in my life, baby.”

“I’m sorry,” Abby continues. “But can you really imagine Erin sneaking off for a quickie at school?!”

Patty’s stricken face tells her she’s gone too far, and Abby gasps.

“Oh god! I’ve gone too far! I can’t stop!” Abby almost shouts, and Patty’s grateful they’re the only ones in the lounge currently.

“Okay, but seriously,” Patty says, shaking her head, “we’re not going to go snooping around in Erin’s business, are we?”

“No, that would be an invasion of privacy,” Abby agrees. “We can wait, like mature adults. She’ll tell us eventually.”

“Good,” Patty nods, biting off another slicing, chewing quickly and looking back at Abby. “So, when’s the skateout then?”

Abby’s smile grows and she pulls out a notebook, opening it to a page of notes.

“This is all the information I’ve gotten so far,” Abby declares, passing the book to Patty. “It’s clearly somebody at this university, a girl somebody, and with some proper spying and investigation, we can find out exactly who.”

 

…

 

_ Good luck on your date tonight. _

 

_ I’m getting all the details from you tomorrow. No getting out of it. _

 

Erin’s phone buzzes quickly twice, both messages from Abby and Erin smiles. She knows her friend means the best.

 

_ I’m really nervous. _

 

Erin replies quickly and Abby’s response is almost instantaneous.

 

_ You’ll do great, I’m sure. _

_ Wear the blue dress. It looks great on you. I’m sure laundry girl will love it. _

 

Taking Abby’s offered advice, Erin pulls out the dress in question, trying it on and nodding to her reflection in the mirror. The dress itself is nice enough to be classy but not too fancy to be overdoing. Erin, still nervous and unsure of what exactly Holtzmann has planned for the whole night, had only been given the details that Holtzmann would be here around 7pm. And it’s quarter to, so she doesn’t have a lot more time to get ready or be nervous about it.

It’s three minutes before seven, according to her phone, when Holtzmann buzzes her apartment.

“I’ll be down in a minute,” she replies back, quickly putting on her sensible shoes, and shutting her apartment door. It’s in the elevator that she glances at her phone and sends one parting text to Abby.

 

_ She’s here. Wish me luck. _

 

And with that, she tucks her phone away into her clutch. Through the building’s door’s window she can see Holtzmann, who’s fiddling with her own button up shirt, adjusting the necktie slightly and tapping her foot against the pavement of the building steps. 

She looks like the epitome of calm and cool, leaning against the railing of the steps, and Erin gets a rush of nerves, ones that tell her to run away and hide back in her apartment on the fourth floor, but Erin pushes them down, swallowing them away and steps forward instead, opening the door to her grinning date.

“You look amazing,” Holtzmann says, holding the door for Erin, and motioning to the baby blue, vintage looking Mercedes Benz. “Your chariot awaits.”

Holtzmann guides Erin to the door, holding it open for her, and Erin glances back at Holtzmann before stepping into the car.

“You look really amazing too, Holtz,” Erin admits, “super beautiful. Or handsome. Whichever you’d prefer.”

“I’ll take them both,” Holtzmann smirks, closing the door for Erin before running to the other side of the vehicle, and quickly getting into the car. 

“This car is amazing,” Erin says, “how could you even afford it as a student?”

Holtzmann runs her hand fondly on the car’s interior.

“She was my dad’s before she went into a coma. He gave her to me and told me I could keep her if I could fix her,” Holtzmann answers with a laugh. “She’s held together with duct tape and love.”

“Oh god,” Erin says.

“Don’t worry,” Holtzmann replies, “it’s like E.T. As long as you believe in her, she’ll keep going.”

“Please tell me this car doesn’t fly,” Erin adds, looking at Holtzmann who smirks, placing a hand on the wheel and zipping off towards their destination.

“What is this place?” Erin asks as they arrive. 

The large building Holtzmann has parked outside of looks like an abandoned Blockbuster, with the old blue ticket sign looking like it belongs more in a scene of a ghost town than in the middle of the bustling and busy area they’re in. 

“You know how to rollerblade, right?” Holtzmann asks, grabbing Erin’s hand and pulling her towards the entrance.

“No way,” Erin mutters as soon as the door is opened for her by the ever grinning Holtzmann.

“It’ll be fun, I promise,” Holtzmann says as she pays for her and Erin’s skate rental. As they try on different skates Erin takes a moment to really observe the strange place Holtzmann has taken her to. The other girl seems to fit in, with her thrift store chic that seems to be outdated but extravagantly fun. The disco lights spin over the gymnasium floor, lighting up couples and children zipping by in circles on their skates and the smell of deep fry drifts along, permeating the air along with the smell of rented skates and mixing with the sounds of old arcade machines.

“How did you even find this place?” Erin asks.

“We used to come here as kids,” Holtzmann answers. “It’s a lot of fun. It was a lot newer and cleaner back then. But that’s alright.”

Holtzmann gets up quickly and confidently, but Erin doesn’t feel the same on the borrowed wheels. Holtzmann offers her hand instead, pulling Erin up and guiding her slowly to the roller floor.

“We’ll do this together,” Holtzmann offers.

“What makes you think I’m not an expert rollerblader,” Erin rebutes, and Holtzmann fakes letting go of Erin’s hand only to see the panic in her eyes.

“Don’t worry Erin,” Holtzmann answers, tightening her grip. “Plus rollerblading is better together.”

The first steps are wobbly, and Erin feels as though her whole weight is being supported and pulled by Holtzmann, who seems graceful as ever on shoes that Erin deems will surely be the end of her. But Holtzmann is patient, letting Erin grip to her for dear life as they slowly circle once and then twice.

“Starting to get the hang of it?” Holtzmann asks as they make their third circle and she almost laughs as she sees Erin’s face, stern and worrying her lip from the concentration to stay up and not pull both of them down. “You know, it doesn’t take that much concentration.”

“I just don’t want us to fall,” Erin admits.

“I’m not going to hate you if you pull us down,” Holtzmann laughs. “It’s meant to be fun.”

“I should have dressed better for this,” Erin continues, smiling a little as Holtzmann’s eyes travel over her body. 

“Nonsense,” Holtzmann argues, “I think you’re dressed perfectly.”

“It just makes falling a little more… dangerous,” Erin says.

“Why? Are you wearing something naughty?” Holtzmann jokes. “Or are you wearing nothing at all under there? Erin, you vixen!” A wink accompanies a laugh as Erin blushes at Holtzmann’s statement.

“Holtz!” Erin says, laughing at the over exaggerated wink Holtzmann makes.

“Come on,” Holtzmann says, tugging her forward. “We can go around twice more and then I’ll buy you some fries at the food stand.”

Erin follows with a laugh, grasping onto Holtzmann’s hand instead of her arm, and smiles as they circle around.

…

 

“I had an amazing time,” Erin tells her once Holtzmann has parked her car outside of Erin’s apartment. “I’ve honestly never been on a date like this.”

“Must of been some pretty boring dates you’ve had then,” Holtzmann laughs, and goes to open the door for Erin once more. “Let me walk you to your door.”

“Like that’s very far,” Erin laughs, walking up the steps together.

“I had an amazing time too,” Holtzmann says.

“Though I’m sure a lot of your dates are like that,” Erin replies with a smile.

“None as fun as this one,” Holtzmann replies watching Erin carefully. They’re still holding hands, with Holtzmann waiting, leaning on the rails of the stairs like she had earlier, but this time she’s waiting. It takes a moment for Erin to realize what exactly she might be waiting for, and with a slow smile, Erin steps in closer, placing her other hand on Holtzmann’s waist.

Erin smiles a bit before biting her lip and dropping Holtzmann’s hand, placing it on the back of Holtzmann’s neck as she waits for some sign from Holtzmann to continue. Holtzmann pulls Erin closer, her now free hand high on Erin’s waist, and giving her another cheesy wink, Holtzmann closes both eyes before placing her lips on Erin’s.

Erin’s reaction is automatic, closing her eyes quickly and kissing back, returning the force and passion, deepening the kiss. Erin has Holtzmann pressed against the building, and Holtzmann seems to be pulling her in closer as the kiss deepens and as she adds tongue. It’s Erin’s moan that makes her realize, somewhere, lost in the passion and moment of it all, she had snuck in her thigh in between Holtzmann’s. 

She breaks the kiss, breathing in deeply and blushing bright enough that she knows, even with the terrible lighting from the street lamps it’ll be easy to spot. Holtzmann herself doesn’t seem quite up to speed either, the usual confidence and easy going nature replaced with a sort of awe instead.

“We should… ugh,” Erin mutters, clearing her throat and making eye contact with the blonde before looking away. “I’d love to go out again. With you.”

“Yeah, same,” Holtzmann mutters back, clearly still affected, “I mean, I’d love to go out again. With you.”

Erin laughs lightly, placing another quick kiss on Holtzmann’s lips before opening the building doors.

“Goodnight, Holtz,” Erin says.

“Goodnight Erin,” Holtzmann replies, almost a whisper. “I’ll surely dream of you.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Part 2 doesn't have it, but I'm gonna write part 3 to have Abby claim: "I knew it was Holtzmann all along!" it'll be funny
> 
> Anyways come follow me on tumblr [here ](http://officialgaynasa.tumblr.com/) if you want. I blog about gay stuff and space and ghostbusters. I'll probs follow back too


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